26 Jun 2017

The one thing that many people did not know about the departed former statesman, Sir Ketumile Masire, was that before becoming a politician, he had proven himself as an accomplished journalist.

 Sir Ketumile’s journalism career was not so much of a money-spinner, but it might be considered as a launching pad of his illustrious political career. 

At the height of his short stint as a journalist, he became an editor of Naledi Ya Batswana/ African Echo newspaper. It was at this time that he was reported to have been politically engaged and eventually met founding president, Sir Seretse Khama. BOPA talked to some of the veteran journalists, who in their respective line of duties interacted with Sir Ketumile to reflect on the life of the great statesman as a newsmaker hogging headlines. Retired photojournalist, Mr Zacks Sethaiso travelled the length and breadth of the world with Sir Ketumile. But his most memorable journey was when they flew to Buckingham Palace for his knighting. 

Mr Sethaiso, who joined the then Department of Information and Broadcasting as a young photographer, had taken up assignments involving Ragaone from his days as vice president and Minister of Finance and Development Planning until presidency. One of his first official external trips was when they travelled to Maastricht, Holland, for a Europen Union sanctioned meeting. The EU had convened a meeting with several African heads of state. 

The Queen of the Netherlands by the time, Queen Beatrix, lent the Botswana entourage an aircraft to fly to Lybia for an African Union meeting and state visit. The other memorable journey Mr Sethaiso vividly remembers was Sir Ketumile laying wreaths at the infamous Lockerbie bombing site in Scotland. 

In 1988 an aircraft operating the trans-Atlantic leg of the Frankfurt-Detroit route was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members on board.

For his part, Mr Tarcisius Mudongo, is a former journalist who unearthed the well known ‘lefatshe le ga se koi’ joke that has been attributed to the late president was once assigned to cover the repatriation of Baherero in Ngamiland District. 

When one man stood up to ask if he would be allowed to return after being deported to his native country, Sir Ketumile responded by saying ‘lefatshe ga se koi, mo o tlolelang ka kwa obo o tlolela ka kwano!’ By then Mr Mudongo took it as a story only to learn later that it had transformed into one of Sir Ketumile’s memorable quotes. 

Mr Mudongo explained that he regarded Rre Masire as a father figure with a good heart. He had a fair share of international trips with the former president among them a visit to Virginia in the United States. Mr Mudongo also formed part of the entourage in regional and continental tours and most memorably the trip to Swaziland when President Masire introduced himself to King Mswati III. 

Mr Mudongo also covered the coronation of Kgosi Tawana Moremi II, where Sir Ketumile was in attendance when the youthful kgosi was drapped with a leopard skin.

Ms Pamela Dube-Kelepang, veteran Mmegi political reporter recalls fond memories with the late Sir Ketumile. When she started her journalism journey back in 1992, Ms Dube-Kelepang enjoyed every moment of her interaction with Sir Ketumile. 

“We had our own battles as journalists with him such as the Media Bill, but he would engage,” she recalled. The one fond memory she had of Ragaone was of her first ever air travel and it was in his company. 

“On that aircraft was the president, the then minister, Archibald Mogwe, the tall dark special branch man who was Rre Masire’s sole bodyguard, the pilot and yours truly, then a 22-year-old cub reporter from Mmegi.

We were going to Selebi-Phikwe where Rre Masire was to open a shaft at BCL mine. Some minutes mid-air we experienced turbulence and with no air hostesses to pass the paper bags around, hehe ija...! Anyway, you could trust Rre Mogwe to make a scary moment worse with his dry sense of humour. 

He looked at me, asked for my name and loudly declared: “Kana ha sefofane se se wa, Radio Botswana e tlaa bo e bega e re Tautona Masire le tona Mogwe ba tlhokahetse le batho ba bangwe ba le bararo,” she quipped on her facebook post. Across the media fraternity, Sir Ketumile will always be remembered for his humbleness, cheerfulness and ability to crack offbeat jokes and letting out a hearty trademark laughter. ENDS